Data over power line kicks into high gear

IF YOU WANT to distribute HD content between devices, and you have already placed all of your infrastructure in the house or a flat, and Wi-Fi isn't offering enough bandwidth - you were pretty much stuck between the rock and a hard place.

The solution to the problem seems much easier than previously thought. HomePlugAlliance consists of dozens of members from the networking industry, and this industry consortium just brought out new spec.

PowerLineEthernet (PLE) is offering fantastic speed of 200 Mbit/s, or equal to full-duplex 100Mbit Fast Ethernet. This is more than enough for streaming any of the current HD formats.

To make matters even better for consumers, HD AV spec is far more resistant to noise produced by various devices inside the household, so you can freely use the device without fear of the video stream being cut if the hair-dryer or a light is switched on.

The new 200Mbit products are shipping as of next week. And, if you're interested, make sure you're getting a product that complies with the new standard, not the old ultra-speed one (84 Mbit/s). You can spot the products by seeing HomePlugAlliance AV marker on the product packaging.

Most interestingly, Netgear and Devolo are shipping HPA AV compliant devices in Euroland first, which is pretty unusual, due to the fact that Europe uses 230V power compared to more power line-friendly 110V. µ